"War with Islamic terrorists" - Interview with Father Benedict (PART 2/2)

RENEW AMERICA (USA), August 12, 2006, By Mary Mostert

 

PART 2 OF 2

 

/CONTINUED/

 

7. Mostert: It appears that uncontrolled immigration from Albania into Kosovo during the years when Tito was the president of Yugoslavia has actually caused many Serbs to leave Kosovo. There has been a similar migration of millions of illegal aliens from Mexico into Southern California in recent years as many American citizens have left the area. Now many of those illegal Mexican aliens are refusing to learn English, claiming that area is really part of Mexico and demanding special privileges. If the international community allows Kosovo to become an independent nation, do you think that would create a precedent for the success of a similar demand for independence on the part of Mexicans in Southern California?

 

Father Benedict: If you ask me whether that "uncontrol" of the immigration of Albanian residents from Albania was indeed accidental or planned, I think it was planned and allowed by Tito who neither loved Serbs nor anything sacred to Serbs and the least of all Kosovo and Metohija.

 

When it comes to Mexico and South California, if Kosovo can gain independence, which, by the way, opposes all laws, then South California can gain independence as well. By allowing Kosovo to become independent, new rules for gaining independence will emerge around the world, which would not be in the best interest or either USA or civilized mankind.

 

8. Mostert: What do you believe will happen to the remaining Serbs, their churches and the monasteries in Kosovo if the international community hands it over to the Albanian Muslim majority as is being demanded?

 

Father Benedict: If Kosovo and Metohija is handed over to the Albanian minority (they are the minority in Serbia, and Kosovo is still an integral part of Serbia) I think that no monastery or church or Serbian village will ever again exist in Kosovo and Metohija. Apart from Kosovo independence they have one more goal - the cleansing of everything that reminds them of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. And our holy objects across Kosovo and Metohija testify in the best way to whom this land belongs. Still, I am sure that Kosovo and Metohija will never gain independence, no matter how much the situation continues to go that way. No matter how much people tried to reach some goal, finally everything comes out in God's way.

 

9. Mostert: It appears that religious differences have been the main problem the Serbs have faced for centuries in dealing with others in the region. Most of Europe today and its governments are secular, or even officially atheist, as has been the case with Albania. The history of the Serbs indicates that while other groups have used force to require Serbs to adopt their religion, Serbs have remained loyal to Serbian Orthodox Christianity but have not insisted that others abandon their religion. What sets Serbs apart from other Christians in Europe in their loyalty to Jesus Christ?

 

Father Benedict: Just one correction. There is no Serbian Orthodox Christianity, only Orthodox Christianity.

 

The first thing that makes Serbs different from the rest of the Europe is the fact that for more than one thousand years Serbian people have been devoted to Christ and they have praised the Lord with the same passion and same eagerness as in the time when they turned to Christianity. The other thing is the devotion to holy tradition and dogmas which are not altered, as it is the case with other Christian communities, Latin community or Protestants. Instead, we hold to that heritage which was given to us by holy Apostles. The same thing stands for The Russian Orthodox Church (since Russian people have also suffered a lot and still remained faithful to God and God's truth).

 

No matter how much they suffered and no matter how much they became estranged from God through history, Serbian people have always returned to Christ, as if they have followed the prophet David's example throughout their whole history and from that example learned how to be penitent and obedient to God.

 

10. Mostert: Would you comment on what you think will happen to the crime rate, the economy and the social problems in Kosovo if the province become independent and, if it is not independent, what the Serbian government could or would do to solve those problems?

 

Father Benedict: Since I am sure that Albanians will never own Kosovo and Metohija as their own state, there is no reason for me to comment on possible independence of Kosovo and the situation in independent Kosovo.

 

US-NATO bombing of Serbia allegedly happened because of Slobodan Milosevic and his regime. Let's remember the speech of US State secretary Madeline Albright during the bombing of Yugoslavia when she apologized to Serbian people via radio station "The Voice of America," repeating that the US has nothing against the Serbian people, but against the president of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic.

 

That man is not alive today. Serbia is ruled by a democratic government and I think that it would be fair enough to bring Kosovo and Metohija back to the Serbian people, just as it was before the bombing in 1999. I am sure that Kosovo and Metohija would be much safer and more secure and that it would be in the best interest of all residents of Kosovo and Metohija to be under the rule of Serbian government in Belgrade. What we see today in the area of Kosovo and Metohija is that just a small number of people, around 10%, can afford a normal life, while the remaining 90% in Kosovo and Metohija are struggling to survive. They face great economic crisis, great unemployment and finally, great hatred.

 

Great social and economic crisis, as well as great unemployment and hatred, stimulate the increasing development of extremism and utmost fanaticism especially among the youth. If things continue to go this way in Kosovo and Metohija, I think that, unless something changes quickly, the ensuing chaos will be very hard to repair, and its victims will surely be Serbs (because there is no one to protect them) and the UN Administration representatives because that administration has led the inhabitants in Kosovo and Metohija into this catastrophic condition by means of it voracity and arrogance.

 

Therefore, the only way to solve this problem is to bring Kosovo and Metohija back under the rule of Belgrade, of course only by means of democratic institutions in the Kosovo and Metohija province in which the representatives of all nations which live here can take equal parts. Not only Albanians, as it is the case now.

 

Some people think that Belgrade government is not ready for that undertaking, but in my opinion, those who think so are wrong. If the communist regime somehow managed to bear and face the problems of Kosovo and Metohija in years after the Second World War, the current Belgrade democratic government also can bear and face the problems of Kosovo and Methohija.

 

The present democratic government of Serbia was accepted and supported by many European countries, and the Serbian police and armed forces have great experience and strong will to maintain order in Kosovo and Metohija. If, in any case, the tensions of Albanian terrorists increase after the re-establishment of Serbian government in Kosovo and Metohija, our police and armed forces would solve that problem very quickly and efficiently. Of course, NATO experts could help by means of the knowledge they gained in Kosovo and Metohija during last few years.

 

This brings us to the beginning of our story. Just as Serbian people and St. Tsar Lazar's army once were the solid rampart that served as the protection of Christian Europe from aggressive Islam, Serbs present the same solid rampart today. Bringing back autonomous province Kosovo and Metohija into the de facto corpus of Serbia will lead to a crucial blow and defeat of Islamic terrorism in Europe and elsewhere.

 

11. Mostert: Father Benedict, in February of this year, a terrorist bomb blast destroyed the dome of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq. It was built in the 9th century and was a religious site sacred to Shiite Muslims. Almost immediately following the terrorists' action, George W. Bush warned about the threat of civil war and expressed support for the Iraqi government. Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the bombing a "criminal and sacrilegious act," urging Iraqis to show restraint and avoid retaliation and Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, issued a joint statement saying the US would contribute to the shrine's reconstruction.

 

Would you comment on the world political reaction to the terrorist bombing of a mosque in Iraq with the world political reaction to terrorist destruction of 160 ancient Orthodox Christian Churches in Kosovo?

 

Father Benedict: That is exactly what our eparchy, with archpriest bishop Artemije at the head of it, speaks about for seven years now. The double standards of the United Nations.

 

Unfortunately, we have about 160 churches and monasteries demolished by Albanian terrorists.

 

Throughout this entire interview I have been speaking about terrorists, because the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Albanian National Army (ANA) and other Albanian military groupings are nothing else but a group of armed bandits which oppose the order of one country, mercilessly killing everyone who stands in their way, and, at the same time, performing unprecedented crimes against the opponents. That means they are terrorists indeed, and that we did not name them terrorists because of hatred or politics. ANA is also on the terrorist list of the American administration, and KLA used to be on that list until the bombing of Serbia in 1999, when she was erased from it over night. Reasons for such an act are known only to Clinton's administration.

 

Medieval and modern churches and monasteries are not renovated until the present day, although about 130 churches and monasteries were demolished more than 7 years ago. Why is this the case only in Kosovo? If we could just remember the fuss which was made when Taliban regime demolished Buddha's statues. In Kosovo and Metohija, where everyone pretends to be for the restoration, nothing is actually renovated.

 

In particular, I can speak about the restoration in Prizren area, where our monastery is. The renovation of Holy Great Martyr George Church in Prizren has been the topic of discussion for a long time. Some even went so far that they announced that the renovation is in progress. But soon afterwards, all of it proved to be a lie. Instead, the interior of the roofless church was just wiped a little bit, and some scaffolding made so that, as we hope, the church could be renovated in near future.

 

Not only did the jewel of medieval art, The Church of Bogorodica Ljeviska in Prizren, burn on March 17, 2004, but it was the target of a robbery one year later. Namely, 100 square meters of lead were stolen from the roof of that church. Only one square meter which thieves had dropped was found afterwards. The rest of it was never found, although everyone know which company ordered this theft. No steps or measures are taken to bring that lead back. The worst of all, an Albanian firm has won the tender to re-built the roof, but one question still stands - what will they use to do that? Will they use lead, as it was before, or just a sheet metal coated with zinc, as it was the case with the Church of Christ the Savior in Prizren. Another question is whether the The Church of Bogorodica (Godmother) Ljeviska is going to be renovated completely or just patched.

 

Lead from the roof was also stolen from the Tutic's Church of St. Nicholas in Prizren. No investigation was conducted and no suspects were found in that case either, as if the theft had never happened. The same stands for all other churches in Prizren - St. Cosmas and Damian, St. Great Martyr Nedelja (Kyriakia), Runic's Church of St. Nicholas, Chapel of St. Panteleimon, Serbian Orthodox Seminary of St. Cyril and Methodius, and of course, our monastery. By what we can see, the same things happen elsewhere in Kosovo and Metohija. I have to emphasize once again that there is no renovation of churches in southern Serbian province known as Kosovo and Metohija. It is just a farce and we hope that God will reveal it soon and show to everyone what that so-called renovation meant and what its purpose was.

 

Bishop Artemije requested that the renovation of Serbian churches should be conducted by the building company of our eparchy "Rade Neimar," which would certainly be a real reconstruction, and not this so-called renovation. By my opinion, nevertheless, UNMIK and Council of Europe managed, by means of several bishops, and later by means of the entire Assembly of bishops, to impose a memorandum (business letter) about the renovation of churches to bishop Artemije, which he, as a bishop devoted to his Church, actually did, but he took no part in that reconstruction, because he knew where that so-called renovation led.

 

The same thing happened when our eparchy sued four NATO member countries in Strasburg Court : Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, because they neglected their soldiers in Kosovo and allowed terrorist to demolish our churches and monasteries and to kill Serbian people. Actually, they were just a décor, claiming they made mistakes in calculations. The culmination of negligence and laziness UN and KFOR was the fact that nobody was prosecuted for the crimes that happened on March 17. There was an investigation, but it ended as a great failure. As if the violence against Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija had never happened and as if we all live in a perfect peace and harmony.

 

That is why I think that the charges in International Court should be fulfilled so that everyone can bear his responsibility for what he did, or didn't do and should have done, as in this case. But, in this case it was forbidden to bishop Artemije to be a bishop, and Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church decided to withdraw the charges in International Court in Strasburg against the negligent soldiers and corrupted KFOR generals.

 

The following quotation of vicar bishop Teodosije to the international community shows how much some of our bishops believed, and still believe. More than one year ago he said: "People build churches as homes of prayer so that they could pray in them. Unfortunately, other demolished them because of envy and hatred. By renovating the demolished churches in Kosovo and Metohija we express our holy duty and testament. That renovation will send a powerful message to destroyers of these temples that violence will not and cannot be rewarded and that all destroyed monuments will be re-build by means of our effort, with the support of international community."

 

And as we can see now, one and half year after all these words were said, neither is there renovation, nor any kind of support international community, but only their playing with the reputation of our bishops who trusted them.

 

And the worst of all, Albanian violence proved to be rewarded, since there are no Serbs left, nor any Orthodox churches, churches which disturbed them and which are, therefore, demolished. That is a fact, and the rest of it is pure demagogy and rhetoric of powerful persons who newer recognize their defeat.

 

Translated by Masha Krsmanovic

 

To Contact Holy Archangels Monastery: svarhangeli@hotmail.com

 

Website: http://whymonastery.blogspot.com/

 

Mary Mostert is a nationally-respected political writer.

 

/END/